Settling in.
First days in Palma de Mallorca.
The first stop on our year travelling around Europe is Palma de Mallorca. We arrived here on Wednesday (it’s now Saturday afternoon as I’m writing), and the past couple of days have been a blur of settling in to our new home.
After several weeks staying with our parents and at friends’ houses we’ve enjoyed having our own space to catch up on work, unpack our things properly and unwind a little.
We got to our Mallorcan “home” at around 9pm on Wednesday and our Airbnb host, Laura, was there to greet us and show us around “palm tree cottage”. As far as our first Airbnb experience goes, we’ve done well - the cottage is calm and peaceful, beautifully decorated and well-equipped for a long stay with a huge multi-level outside space. (I’ll share the details of all our Airbnb properties once our stays have come to an end).
We dumped our overflowing backpacks and headed out in search of some food. Even finding our way around the city for the first time in the dark it didn’t take long until we were at Bar Bellver and furnished with cava and local cervezas, gambas al ajillo and patatas bravas - most likely the foundations of our staple diet while we’re here!
Thursday was spent getting work done and checking out a few local coffee shops and work spots - we’ve already found a few favourites (full round-ups coming soon!) In the evening, we headed to check out our nearest beach just as a storm began to settle in, which gave way to some amazing waves and impressive surfing! And Friday was more of the same, plus joining the local gym, signing up for yoga classes at Earth Yoga (a local studio with excellent Google reviews), and going for my first run along the sea front… start as you mean to go on, and all that jazz!
To mark our first Friday in Palma we headed out to explore the Old Town, which is about an hour’s walk from our casita. Just on the brink of “hanger” we stumbled on a gem of a tapas spot, Quina Creu, where I had the best sangria ever (aptly named “Very Spanish Sangria”) and as well as the traditional favourites (prawns and more patatas bravas) we tried the specials which included sweet potato hummus with mint and pomegranate and grilled peaches with more prawns, which were both delightful.
On the way home we stumbled across Carrer del Apuntadors - a stunning street packed with restaurants and tapas bars, each looking better than the next - so no doubt we’ll be working our way down that street over the next few weekends! (We agreed we need to dress up more next time we head that way as every bar was packed full of beautifully dressed people, leaving us feeling a bit underdressed in our shorts and sandals!)
And today, so far we’ve explored the nearest supermarket (a huge Carre Four which Sam was in his element perusing) and the Market de l’Olivar, and stocked the fridge and freezer with tuna steaks, scallops, vegetables and yet more gambas ready for some “home”-cooked meals next week. We then headed back into town for brunch and to pick up some treats from Palma Bread (which came highly recommended) before heading back to the cottage to catch up on some work and enjoy a lazy afternoon on the terrace.
Tonight, it’s a choice between heading back to the marina or old town for dinner or walking in the other direction for a drink by the ocean… it’s a hard life!
Some highlights so far:
Brunch at Soleil Bar & Brunch
Tapas at Quina Creu
Watching the surfers at Cala Major
Cardamom buns from Palma Bread
Running along the marina window shopping for yachts (Palma has a pedestrianised sea road that apparently stretches over 10km - although I’ve only checked out the first 5km so far - making it ideal for runners!)
And a lowlight, just to keep things in perspective:
I’ve been bitten to death by vicious Mallorcan mosquitos… watch out for reviews of the best insect repellents, citronella incense sticks and after-bite creams… oh the glamour!
So nothing too crazy has happened yet as we’ve mainly been finding our feet, but we have some exciting plans for the next few weeks including a staycation (via the old wooden train) to Soller and Port de Soller and hiring a car to explore Pollenca and more of the North of Mallorca. We’d love to hear any recommendations for beaches, hikes and restaurants to add to our list!
